power of prayer<\/a>. Maybe it\u2019s because she didn\u2019t want people to worry. Maybe she didn\u2019t want to be a bother. Maybe she didn\u2019t want to acknowledge her needs.<\/p>\nI know the feeling. I remember when my name was on the prayer list at our church when I had heart surgery and as soon as I could, a month after the operation, I announced I was okay and told everybody they didn\u2019t have to pray for me. \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d I insisted. But there were several more months of recovery, of achiness, of bad sleep, of weariness, when I could have used more prayers.<\/p>\n
What is it about this hesitancy to ask for help? Is it misplaced pride or a wish for privacy. I can\u2019t say for my mom, but in me it\u2019s a fear that I\u2019ll become tiresome, always talking about my needs. I look around and see how many others seem to have greater needs. But how can I get help if I don\u2019t ask?<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s an announcement. I\u2019m going to dispense with this reluctance. Sometimes prayers need to be kept private, just between God and me. Others deserve to be shared. A spiritual community wants to know, wants to help. And dare I say, God does too? <\/p>\n
\u201cI put Dad\u2019s name back on the prayer list,\u201d my sister said. She and my brother-in-law go to the same church. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s okay,\u201d Mom said. People could know, people do know. They\u2019re glad to be part of what\u2019s happening to us because it\u2019s happening to them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I keep thinking about Mom\u2019s initial reluctance to put Dad\u2019s name on the prayer list at church. Dad was in the hospital, in a lot of pain and when asked Mom said, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to put him on the prayer list.\u201d It\u2019s not that she didn\u2019t think he could have used the prayers or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[16,30],"ppma_author":[476],"class_list":["post-25378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer","tag-god","tag-prayer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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